Welcome to Gaia! ::

Scarker scratches his chin for a short while in consideration. Honestly, he knew that he'd take the job; all he was doing was trying to figure if he knew what "biblical" and "Eden" meant. Since he apparently didn't, he decided to take a wild guess.

"Basically a vacation that I get paid for only if I figure out how to take it? Sounds fun!"

He rifles through one of his trenchcoat's pockets and pulls out a small notebook. Flipping the page a few times, he comes to a rather well drawn map of Northern Gaia that he consults for a moment.

"Getting you a map there shouldn't be hard, but if you want film, you'll have to give me something to take it with. If the map's all you need, then I can start out now."

The woman was very confusing to the mage. First using two terms that he'd never heard of, now talking about blurry feet? Why would he take a picture of his feet? In his defense, size 11 wasn't really that big for someone his size, but was it honestly so common of a thing for people to take pictures of their feet? Still, this time he hid his confusion a little better.

"Disposable cameras. Right. Well, if that's all I should get going. Unless you have any distinctive leads, this is gonna take a while."

The mage turned around and started heading out. He was leaving at a pace that wouldn't take him out of the building all that fast, just in case she did have anything to tell him before he left. If not than he would go buy about 3 disposable cameras (cursing his slowly dwindling cash supply) and head north out of the city. In fact, after stopping for a second and saying something to acknowledge her input, that's what he'd do even if she did have something to say.

Scarker waved to Cindy over his shoulder as he left the building. His pre-travel plans got taken care of, the 3 cameras were bought, and he was out the north gate of Barton before anyone had a chance to miss him.

Now he was off to Guldor. (The quest leaves Barton! On to the Tundra of Guldor)

"Hmm?" The secretary looked up at him and flipped some hair out of her face, then she looked at her calendar. That didn't take too terribly long... he must not've found anything. That was good for her, since there was an office betting pool going towards this one.

"Alright, one second." She went over to the phone, punching in a few numbers after pressing the speaker button. "Ms. Donovihn, Mr. Scarker... Navoderille...? is here to see you."

"Huh? Oh, uh... alright, give me a minute."

Once the phone was hung up, she nodded to Scarker. "She'll be right down. Feel free to have a seat."Again, there were chairs over yonder, but he already knew that. It'd take just over a minute before Cindy emerged from the elevator doors, a clipboard in hand.

"Mr. Navrodel, you came back sooner than I'd expected. You have results for me one way or the other, yes?"

Cindy walked beside Scarker, listening to his directions and findings, almost missing when he offered the pictures. She looked between the two graphical offerings, trying to understand the map-- Guldor wasn't a greatly traversed place, after all. Unlike places like Barton, there was a severe shortage of main roads to follow.

"Hmm..." She remained on the picture of the 'source.' "If I'm not mistaken... then that's the floating island that showed up shortly after the last Heaven or Hell tournament. Very interesting... very interesting indeed!"

She nodded as she had a lot more to work with, something she could actually spin a story out of. She stepped back, quickly putting the pictures on a counter and replacing them with a camera pulled from her pocket.

"Stay right there for just a few seconds... give us a smile..."

cthhhhh

"Man, thanks a lot. We've got your name, though maybe you ought to spell it, so we can write it correctly on the graphic and ticker.... and so we know exactly who to write the check to."



The secretary, in contrast to the excited Cindy, looked depressed at having lost $100.

"A man about his business, I like that," Cindy said with a nod. She went into her purse, rifling through her things for a short number of seconds before pulling out a checkbook. She didn't have a problem writing up a check on the spot, as it was a business expense.

"Let's see. Cameras, developing, travel... I've been in that area so I know about what it should cost. Though, I should throw in the pay for the-- I knew I was forgetting something!"

She stopped herself from tearing out the check, going through her purse again and finding an envelope. She went and opened it, and handed the papers within to Scarker.

"It's a rather standard release form. You get credit for taking the pictures and will get your pay for them as well, but we-- I, hehehe-- can do edits for graphics and all that standard business-type stuff. Sign the highlighted regions."

If he agreed to that (and why wouldn't he, the pay was rather good... she was no J. Jonas Jameson and if he'd do this, maybe the money'd make him want to run back and go to more remote tundras and volcanoes for her), then he was handed his check, signed and ready to go.

"Watch the news tonight, we'll preview some of these pictures. But keep your eye on us, and we'll have a full story. I can see the awards lining up now!"

Her eyes glittered with stars and bling, but she looked towards him and with a nervous smile, straightened. "It's been a pleasure doing a business with you, Mr. Scarker."

Part I

It was finally dawn in the small town of Barton, there wasn't much for movement within the large city walls. In fact, a lot had changed. There was a great deal of check points it seemed as well as some destroyed buildings. In fact, it was no longer Barton Town, but rather it was known as the Barton Fortress; a place where zombies roamed freely throughout the streets.

Frowning in front of the gates stood Madison as she examined the worn down walls. It must had been quite sometime since she had set foot on the cobbled pathway as she couldn't believe the sight she was seeing before her. However, with a deep breath in she began to make her way towards the first of many check points. For some reason, she didn't feel like she should be there, but something was drawing her towards the forsaken city...

Well, she knew exactly what it was.

Madison had been having unusual dreams involving both blood, murder, Barton, and a strange little girl with long black hair and holding a blood covered stuffed rabbit. Because of these horrific events, the rabbit tried her best not to sleep. This only caused Madison to have rather large bags beneath her own eyes and slightly resembling her own version of the living dead. However, she managed to carry on as her snow white ears flopped slightly to the side of her face as she carried her bag on one shoulder.

Slowly, she manage to pull her tiresome body towards the first check point, there it seemed to have quite a collection of weaponry stored there as well as a few military folk. Some of them were armed where others were sorting through some of the individuals in line who appeared to be going into the city. The sensation of nervousness began to overcome her as she waited patiently in the line up where there were only five people in front of her.



“Can I help you, Miss?” questioned the man who was sitting at the desk that was now in front of her. Madison could barely even talk now as she could feel herself becoming rather parched with thirst. She wasn't entirely sure what to say. With that, she adjusted the top hat that was perched onto of her head and attempted to speak.

“Uh... yes. I would like to be able to get into the Town.” She smiled rather nervously as the man continued to examine over her. Shrugging the man pulled out a piece of paper and a pen as though prepared to take some notes. Quickly he began to write a few words down in some of the boxes before even speaking again. Her ruby red eyes watched the scribbles go across the paper as she knew it was about her. She just couldn't read it.

“Name.” His voice nearly caused her to jump out of her flesh as she heard him speak. However, he didn't seem to be like the type of person to be waiting for her to think of an answer. Smiling, she only did what she knew best. She spoke the truth.

“Madison.” She grinned pleasantly to reveal her two bucked teeth to him as she was pleased to be able to get passed his first very difficult question.

“Last name.”

This definitely caused her to become stunned. Thinking on her toes, she quickly tried to think of a last name to go by. Anything really, she just needed to know if there was a name she could follow through with. After much search, and the look of impatience on the soldier's face she thought of something.

“Madison Dark.” Her smile was now slightly fainter as she thought about the use of this name, it was an honor to use it. However, deep down she knew it was wrong. Especially when she was the one who caused him to fall to his death. But she couldn't think of anything else to really say, what else was she supposed to do?

“Alright, Miss Dark. What brings you to Barton Fortress?” This was a question she hadn't really thought of. Why was she coming here? In fact, she herself didn't even know why she was even there. All she knew was she was following her instinct, but she even knew that wasn't a very good excuse to think of.

“I am a scout with the organization G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N., I am here to investigate your town for any unusual behavior that could be occurring.” The guard looked at her slightly before writing a few more scribbles onto the piece of paper. Finally once he finished he looked back up to her and smiled slightly.

“Just one sec, I have to double check your clearance.” And at that moment, he turned to the phone and began to dial some numbers. Madison felt slightly more relaxed knowing how much closer she was to getting into the city. She didn't really pay attention, the only things she could wonder was where she was going to start. Sighing, she took a deep breath in and leaned against the desk slightly only to hear the click of the phone take place.

“All right, sounds good. You are free to go in. I suggest you stay within the district area rather than venturing into the dead zone.”

“Dead zone?” Madison cocked her eyebrow at the term as the man handed her what appeared to be a pass of some sort to allow her into the town.

“Dead Army central. No one is allowed going in there without proper clearance from my commanding officer. But everything you should be looking for has been moved out of harms way.” He gave a small reassuring smile, which allowed her to feel slightly more relaxed than she had been feeling before.

Taking the slip of paper, she placed it on the inside of her red jacked before picking up her piece of paper. Thinking for a moment she finally knew what sort of questions were important for her to ask.

“Excuse me...”

“What is it now?” He seemed to grow rather impatient with her now, but Madison only adjusted her appearance and stood her ground. Now scary man was going to stop her mission.

“Can you tell me if Diami Nunnery is in the town? Or even better, Marchiko Labs?” Her stomach tied into a knot at the sound of the Laboratory sliding off her tongue like velvet. It seemed so natural to say, but it made her sick to even think about stopping there.

Unfortunately, the soldier seemed much more grim at her question. Her heart could only sink as she expected to hear some rather distressing news.

“Well, I'll start with the good news. Marchiko is still here, they are in fact helping to find a way to get rid of the Dead Army that is lurking within the walls. But as for the Nunnery....” He paused.

“No one really made it out. Most of the children and sisters who were there ended up falling victim to the Dead Army.” Madison's stomach tied into a tighter knot as she was hearing the bad news. This was not going to be as easy as she thought, especially if she had to go venture back to the labs. Slowly, her eyes fell to the ground and she let out a sigh. She had come all this way for nothing.

“But...”

Madison quickly look upwards and her ears popped up slightly as she was given a glimmer of hope. Although it was tiny, she knew he had to bring some good news of some sort.

“I do believe Sister Amani survived. After all, she did retire a year or two before the attacks occurred.” The man nodded his shaved head slightly as he slowly began to remember such details involving the woman.

“Sister Amani..” There was a small smile on her face as she spoke the words very coolly. Madison had a very vague memory about her childhood. In fact, most of it was blocked out. But there were a few things she did remember, and this woman was one of them. She didn't remember much about her other than the kindness she had shown the younger rabbit and her smell. Unlike most of the other nuns who seemed to run the orphanage, this woman had the delicate smell of Lilacs.

“Yeah, I think she's right on the main street. Normally she is helping out at the church or something like that. She's not that hard to miss.”

“Thank you.” Madison smiled widely and took off. The young man gave her a slight nod before returning to her paper work.

The rabbit had a starting point.

In order to find out what was going on with her, she was going to see her old friend. Perhaps she would have some sort of answer to her personal mystery.

"Business as usual."

This, if you didn't count the regularity of Deity Inc patrols, the number of men on the ground and eyes in the sky. Vehicles came and went, loads of personnel and cargo riding along repaved roads. Powered suits sat in tactical areas, silent sentinels responding only to those worthy (or unlucky) enough to get notice.

Discount the checkpoints, the gates that controlled traffic incoming and outgoing both on the main roads and at the train station. Ignore the fact that there were actually parts of the city off limits, either because of military presence or construction, and one might feel right at home. Rows of homes had been destroyed either by artillery fire, magical corruption, fire, or simple chaos. When it could be afforded, the displaced family acquired a trailer and worked to rebuild what was lost. Otherwise, there were makeshift shelters for people to stay until their section of the city could be rebuilt.

If they didn't leave.

Those who stayed had pretty much accepted the presence as a necessary evil. Nobody ever wanted to be occupied, but there was no doubt that the place was safe, perhaps safer than even before the zombie raid. However, as darklings and undead of various intelligence gathered and made a move for nocturnal entry, gunfire sang.

The town had become a fortress of sorts... but it was business as usual.

Now, part of this business was defense of the homeland. Not everybody was human, there were metas and magicians able to occasionally assist when it didn't directly interfere with Diety's job. Such was the case of a certain Shrine Maiden that kept the Zen Gardens just outside of those fortress gates to the left of Barton proper, yet still in ear and eyeshot.

These entrance gates were devoid of the presence of armed guards bearing the Diety Inc. logo, but in their stead were a trio of battle monks. Their stances were much more relaxed than that of typical military personnel, but they were still watching for danger even as they chatted. Their neighbor to the east... the trouble couldn't be ignored.

Still... like their heavily armored counterparts in the next town, this was business as usual.